Thread: Chair prototype

Hard to tell what they will be like to sit on!!!!!!!!!! Which no matter what they look like will be the defining factor of a successful chair.
Do you have a copy of "best seat in the house" by Peter Dorman, this has the ergonomic angles and dimensions that can be adapted to any chair. I used these parameteres to build my 10 dining chairs and everyone who has ever sat on them has commented how comfortable they are.
Your chairs look fantastic and are a huge commitment to build a set.
Some advice that was offered to me was to build 2 more chairs than my table sat. I have a 8 seat table so built 10 chairs, this was excellent advice!
My chairs backsplats are steam bent from 3 laminates with mesh inbetween, they are not fixed but float in mortices which gives them a "softness".

Stringy, the chair feels comfortable enough at the moment (hard to tell with the height of the upholstery added). I don't have a copy of the book you mention but have used some existing (comfortable) chairs for dimensions. I will be going down the avenue of curved lamination for the backs too. Not sure what you mean by the mesh inbetween the laminations though?

I like the look of the chair Corbs. Just a couple of comments/questions:

# Are the back legs set wide enough apart? To me they look a little narrow and widening them would not upset the overall design.

# How would a shaped, rather than upholstered seat go?

# I'm a little concerned by the overall front-to back dimension of the chair. My preference woul be to shorTen this .

Originally Posted by artme

I like the look of the chair Corbs. Just a couple of comments/questions:

# Are the back legs set wide enough apart? To me they look a little narrow and widening them would not upset the overall design.

I think the legs are wide enough at the moment as its pretty stable... (see third # response)

# How would a shaped, rather than upholstered seat go?

It would be a lot cheaper going shaped over upholstered but I don't think I would have the patience to do the carving and I doubt it would get past SWMBO.

# I'm a little concerned by the overall front-to back dimension of the chair. My preference woul be to shorten this .

I think you might be onto something with the reducing the depth of the chair. There is definately room behind the chair pad and the slats. Going back to your first point, the chair is really stable with its current depth but by reducing this I may need to widen the back uprights to regain any lost stability.

Take your point about the upholstery! ( Could send the seats to Woodwould )

I think, as you say, that if you reduce the front to back depth of the cair you probably will have to widen the span of the back uprights for the sake of stability. I fyou went that way then three narrower slats, IMHO, would be the go.

I like the way that you have the back rail on the seat somewhat forward of the back legs. This avoids the potential weakening of the back legs at the point where two mortises might intersect at right angles to each other, very nice solution. The chair does look a bit deep, but your curved slats at the back advance the spine of the person quite a bit forward to begin with. I worry a bit about the width of the side rails where they mortise into the back leg. Is there enough meat there to resist racking strains, especially when you don't have any low rails supporting the legs. Having said that, my biggest fault is to over engineer and I generally make things ugly by making things twice as big as they need to be. I am keen to hear what others, more experienced chair makers say on this score

Originally Posted by artme

... If you went that way then three narrower slats, IMHO, would be the go.

I read somewhere in these forums once that you should aim for an even number of slats so there is a gap in the middle where the seated persons spine would be. I might make another set of rails (front to back) and do them an inch shorter so the slats take off closer to the seat and see how it goes for stability

Fencepost, I have seen quite a few commercial examples done the same way without the engineering so I am comfortable that the joints will be strong enough in a suitable hardwood to last. But as I said in my original post, I'm interested to hear opinions from everyone and your's have been taken onboard

Corbs - coming in late here, & my experience is mainly with Georgian & Windsor style chairs, so I admit to having a few biases in chair design.

Overall, your design looks good to me, except for those dead straight back legs. To my eye, it looks a bit severe with the back legs tucked in like that - like miss Muffet avoiding the spider. (Of course that may have been your intention - we each have our own idea of what looks right!). However, on a more practical note, perpendicular back legs give a chair a very small 'tip angle' - anyone leaning back on these chairs will hit the point of no return very quickly. (Yes, I know you shouldn't tip chairs, but people do!). The deep front-to-back dimensions will minimise the risk, & they are probably quite difficult to tip back without really trying, but it might affect stability enough for concern.

My 2c,
Cheers,

Ian, thanks for your comments. I like the general look of the chair at this stage but will probably widen the rear legs a little when I reduce the depth of the chair. I was aiming for something between this and this for the chairs. I have seen them in the gallery and liked them, must admit to being suprised that SWMBO went for the design though. She's a bit of a traditionalist

corbs I would agree with artme re the back leg spacing. Also if you open it up a bit you should be able to place in 4 back rest slats. The current 2 you have leaves me very cold. OK personal preference. Your 2 slats seem to leave little overall support for the back if someone was to lean back into the chair.

Have just added chair pictures to my Albums. This shows what I meant by "Mesh between the backsplats" Back legs are 320mm wide outside, no stability problems. https://www.woodworkforums.com/member...gy-s-pictures/

Like those Stringy!!

Woven Rattan or fine bamboo lattice would go well also.

Corbs,

Your design reminds me of a set of chairs that MajorPanic made a few years ago. See https://www.woodworkforums.com/f40/di...y-there-41141/ and https://www.woodworkforums.com/f40/di...inished-42479/ . His chairs have four back slats, which I think looks better than your two.

I wonder whether your backslats will be glued laminations (which would be my preference) or cut to shape from solid wood, as in MajorPanic's chairs.

Rocker

Stringy, I understand what you mean by the mesh now... wife has knocked that idea on the head though

Rocker, very similar to what I'm aiming for and it looks like he has used thinner stock than I was planning which is comforting. My intention would be curved lamination over solid stock too